you ever feel like,
when you are watching,
       silent and still,
the sun give up on the day
just letting itself be dragged down
       below the horizon
just letting it all end
and you think to your silent still self
      i can relate, I can relate
take me down
take me down too
     take me down with you

You may sit and wonder
what do all these words
come to as a sum
as the writer
I would say
it means all
that is left when it is
done

She had been watching me since I got on the train
Building my story in her mind
Steeling her nerve to approach me
With a deep breath she rose from her seat
Pushed herself down the aisle toward me
She dropped herself in the open seat beside me

She asked, “Are you a runaway?”
I said that depends on how you look at it
We are all running from something
But I think I’m headed in the right direction
Semantics I guess,
but I felt I was running toward
not running away
just moving on

Thanks for your concern kind lady
I can see it in your bright brown eyes
That someone ran away from you one day
You are only hoping to correct that error
but I cannot help you with that pain
that is your journey

she headed back to her seat
and left me to my windowpane
I considered her question as the miles rolled by
And with every turn of the wheels,
I get further from

But no one back there is missing me
Back where I was a younger man
There’s just confusion and resolve
To live the life you were handed down

I can’t accept that legacy
So much more on my mind
I’ll take my chances out here
On the rail, with fate, my roll, and time

Just take my chances out here
On the rail, with fate, my roll, and time

The higher you fly
The louder you must cry
Before they will hear
All that you hope and fear

When you live in a cage
You must eat your own rage
But that is not my ride
I tend to choke on pride

So spread your new found wings
There are many songs yet to sing
And so much music to write
Don’t be afraid of the height

It is just a child’s carousel
Round and round like the stories to yourself you retell
lean way way out for that big brass ring
And all the love and beauty you think it can bring

Slouched and snoring on the sofa
Holding an empty bottle
At the end of an empty day
My little arms extended
Almost toppled as he slumped to me
Did my best to guide him to his rest
And that is how he said goodbye
My last picture of him captured for all of time
That is how he said goodbye

She wiped the tears from her eyes
As the echoes of the yelling stopped
Turned and walked away
As she blew out the candle of her heart
I reach out to stop her
But she was already out the door
She whispered “I’ll miss who I thought you were”
Without even looking back one time more
And that is how she said goodbye
The last sound she made was the closing of the door
That is how she said goodbye

She told me the same story
With all the same suspense and surprise
I chose to ignore the signs
Of the clear and long goodbyes
It’s hard to be there for a mother  
That taught you to never need another
And that is how I said goodbye
With the gun of indifference and the bullet of inaction
That is how I said goodbye

In the end there is the end
Fade to black; the standard trope
But I picture more a giving back
Of all things that made up me
Scattered far and wide across the galaxy
To be used again ad infinitum
And that is how I’ll say goodbye
One last repeating encore acted out again
That is how I’ll say goodbye

like the lion became the house cat
and the wolf became the poodle
*** has been domesticated
it has been made small and controllable
your desires have been selectively bred
down to acceptable sizes
nothing too grand
or over the top
stray too far from the center
and they will
castrate you in the press

You look deep into those bottomless wounded eyes
and you see all the loss that lives there
so overcrowded and well-guarded
But one loss looms large over all
The loss of hope
from all the times she fell in love
and was not caught
each time she said I love you
and heard only silence in return
it is all she hears
all she believes she deserves